Why Officials Miscounted the Victims of the Camp Fire – and Why Some Victims Have Still Not Been Identified

Authorities in California announced this week that the team searching for Camp Fire victims had mistakenly counted the remains of three people twice – lowering the death toll from 88 to 85. This discovery underscores how difficult has been to identify the victims of the deadliest American wildfire in a century.

Anthropologists who helped recover the remains of victims in and around Paradise, Calif.

Authorities in California announced this week that the team searching for Camp Fire victims had mistakenly counted the remains of three people twice – lowering the death toll from 88 to 85. This discovery underscores how difficult has been to identify the victims of the deadliest American wildfire in a century. Anthropologists who helped recover the remains of victims in and around Paradise, Calif.